BIB_ID
408129
Accession number
MA 35.43
Creator
Burney, Fanny, 1752-1840.
Display Date
[1795 June].
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1905.
Description
1 item (2 pages) ; 9.6 x 12 cm
Notes
This fragment is not dated, but the reference to Alex's six-month birthday and the removal of Susanna and her children to James's house in London makes a June 1795 dating very likely. Hemlow suggests a date of June 18; see the published correspondence, cited below, for additional information.
There is no place of writing given. Hemlow posits that this was probably written in Great Bookham, where FBA and her husband were living in 1795.
With a heading: "For My Brother James."
On one side of the letter, the page is cut away and text is missing. Some of this missing text, which appears to be about publishing negotiations, may have to do with the novel Camilla, which Burney was in the midst of writing.
Signed with initials.
There is no place of writing given. Hemlow posits that this was probably written in Great Bookham, where FBA and her husband were living in 1795.
With a heading: "For My Brother James."
On one side of the letter, the page is cut away and text is missing. Some of this missing text, which appears to be about publishing negotiations, may have to do with the novel Camilla, which Burney was in the midst of writing.
Signed with initials.
Provenance
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan from the London dealer Quaritch in July 1905 as part of a collection of Burney's correspondence and fragments of manuscripts, bound in three volumes. Disbound in 1925.
Summary
Discussing expenses related to publishing; mentioning the names of several publishers and booksellers, including Payne, Cadell, Robson and Robinson; writing that the "little Idol of the World [her nickname for her son Alex] is this day half a year old -- & more brilliant in beauty, more waggish in wit, & more numerous in noises than ever"; commenting that she is sure her sister "will find every consolation for her lost home & habitation under your roof" (referring to the fact that her sister Susanna and her children Frances and William had moved in with James's family); asking James to inquire about the following: "How must I place the Booksellers after Mr Payne who I think comes first?"; sending her own and her husband's love to "Mrs. B. & Martinus" (Sarah Payne and Martin Burney).
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